Jason Hancock cited for 'best paper' at national convention
Contact: Rene Abadie
7/3/07
HAMMOND – A Southeastern Louisiana University faculty member in the College of Education and Human Development was recognized for presenting the best research paper at the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) conference held this week in Atlanta.
Assistant Professor Robert Jason Hancock was the lead author with two colleagues from the University of North Texas on a paper which examined the current methods used to assess the impact of technology on student performance. Selection of the paper for the research award is considered a major honor in the field of educational technology. More than 17,000 leading educational authorities attended the international conference.
“Various methods are used to evaluate federally and state-funded technology initiatives in the classroom, so it’s important to determine if the measurements are compatible,” said Hancock. “It was encouraging to see that the three main instruments used are measuring the same underlying construct of technology in the classroom, which we refer to as technology integration. These measurements are important to help determine if the money we are spending – or not spending – on educational technology is a wise investment.”
Hancock said the U.S. Department of Education has requested permission to use the study as part of the foundation for a new site designed to assist educational leaders in making technology decisions.
The paper was based on a three-year ongoing national study of technology’s relationship to student achievement involving a pool of 20,000 teachers across the country. Funding for the project was provided by the HotChalk Corporation, a leading provider of free K-12 course management software that assists teachers in lesson planning, assignment distribution, and collection and grading. The company is also using faculty in Southeastern’s Department of Educational Technology to spearhead research in a number of areas of virtual learning.
"Measuring the impact of technology on student results is critical,” said HotChalk Chief Executive Officer Edward Fields. “Schools have to make every dollar count and every educational technology investment should be driven by a rigorous Return-On-Investment analysis. Dr. Hancock's work is making it possible for educators to conduct meaningful ROI analysis to insure that every technology dollar invested produces measurable education results."
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